REPORT ABSTRACT: MOBILE-APPS: CREATING A NEW HORIZON IN EDUCATION

The combination of digitization, smartphone penetration and mobile apps is about to profoundly impact
the traditional delivery of education. Mobile applications offering a high degree of interaction and
capable of delivering personalized education are transforming the delivery of education and creating a
new horizon in learning. Tavess believes that the ability to make teaching and learning more engaging
and interesting to students and to have a quick digital dialog anytime and anywhere, asynchronously or
in real-time, is simply priceless.

Empowered Classroom Learning

The convergence of technology into a single device has unleashed new opportunities for learning and
collaborative interaction. It empowers both the students and the instructors to be more creative and
enhances students’ interactivity and engagement not only in the classroom but also beyond the
classroom walls and hours. Research at Tavess has shown that with seamless connectivity among users
(both students and teachers), classroom discussions become on-going conversations, sometimes
continuing for months, where discussions are carried on social networking platforms through Mobile-
apps.

Tavess’ research finds that increasing number of teachers/ professors are encouraging grass roots
‘social’ efforts to explore interesting and creative usage of all kinds of digital devices and tools — despite
adversities driven by bureaucracy in some cases. The teachers are finding new ways to effectively
leverage smart hand-held devices and applications to turn stodgy old classrooms into dynamic, creative
and collaborative teaching and learning space - Lessons are being augmented with images, audio and
even video and can literally travel across time to bring more life to teaching and learning, with a ‘let’s
look-up’ approach.

Enabling Social and Any-Time, Any-Where Learning

Another facet of Mobile apps for education is social and informal learning, where students can easily
tweet questions and answers, rapidly seek information on the fly and conveniently take down notes and
share them online instantly. Tavess believes that this ability brings a whole different dimension and
paradigm to learning, and that the opportunities are virtually endless today for facilitating ubiquitous
teaching and learning.

A prime example of this is a free mobile-application from India -based Education Services Company
EdServ that allows students to clarify homework and assignment or project-related questions through
expert tutors via EdServ’s online tuition portal (www.2tion.com).

During its research, Tavess came across professors who use mobile to stay connected with students;
quoting one who said “I can handle any question at any time, and it’s most gratifying when I can answer
the question as the student has it, via mobile, rather than waiting until the next class”.

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REPORT ABSTRACT: MOBILE-APPS: CREATING A NEW HORIZON IN EDUCATION

Apple alone offers more than 350,000 free course lectures, videos, readings and podcasts from
universities and institutions worldwide. The “anytime-access” to a vast storehouse of knowledge right at
the fingertips can enrich learning tremendously.

Indian Market Scenario

Market Overview & Opportunity Snap-shot (India):

2010 2012 2015

Number of Universities 481 515 548
Number of UG Students 3,100,000 3,875,000 4,843,750
Number of PG Students 300,000 375,000 468,750
% of Students Using Smart-Phones 20% 24% 33%
% of Students primarily accessing 50% 65% 80%
Internet on Mobile-Phones
Market Size (US$ Mn) 73.92 104.04 240.97
Market Potential (US$Mn) 3,628.80 6,350.40 10,808.04
Content On-Demand Visual illustrations; Exam-oriented material and tests;
Knowledge-base
Applications On-Demand Real-time collaboration and exchange portals

250.0
241.0
200.0
178.5
150.0
134.2
100.0 104.0
73.9 83.9

50.0

0.0
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015

While the power of mobile-apps and smart devices is established and unquestionable, the technology
penetration in general settings is painfully low and limits the adoption and hence realization of the
market potential

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REPORT ABSTRACT: MOBILE-APPS: CREATING A NEW HORIZON IN EDUCATION

Tavess’ research estimates the potential of mobile apps in the Indian market for Education at US$ 3.6
billion for the year 2010, and expects it to rise to US$ 10.8 billion by the year 2015. However, the
realized size of mobile-apps in the Indian market for Education for the year 2010 is merely at US$
73.92 million, with a rise to US$240.97 expected by the year 2015. These figures highlight the
untapped potential in the Indian market.

The Indian Education market is fairly occupied by traditional organizations which believe that relying on
technology dissolves the human aspect of education and insist on ‘seat time’ and test scores for
accountability. Smartphones and mobile-apps have a lot going for them: convenience, always-accessible
and fascination of the youth. However, to fully realize its potential, Tavess believes that the traditionally-
bound wide-spread teaching fraternity needs hand-holding initially to develop not only awareness but
also comfort in using technology through various work-shops, training campaigns etc.

Considering the spread of the Indian market, Tavess believes that there is much to be done to reach all
parts of the market with the new and exciting horizon introduced by Mobile-apps. Two factors hold the
key to success, according to Tavess: First, Go-to-market (of app-developers, content-providers,
network-operators, hand-set-makers) aimed at promoting awareness at the organizational-level and,
second, delivery of localized ‘Content’ that is relevant to specific-needs of users.

Tavess does not posit that M-way is the only way; a blended approach will offer more variety and
options, and the blend is about to shift towards mobile approach to render a new horizon. The small
screen size of mobile phones may not be amenable to sustained teaching/learning, but it sure seems to
be emerging as a significant support tool in the overall delivery of education. As the academia discovers
this horizon, Tavess believes that the platforms for communication will undergo radical adaptation to
include the use of mobile devices as an integral part of the Education system.

For complete report with in-depth analysis across all sub-segments of Education, please write to:
info@tavess.com

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